Category: Retirement Communities

Ah, many dreams yet to be fulfilled! And you have kept those secured for those days after you and the Mrs. retire? The first thing your wife has demanded is of course relocation. And now when you are actually nearing to that phase of life, are you sure about where you would relocate?

This is indeed a matter of concern and you just cant do away with it. Because where you are living in now is very well tuned with your way of living. You have a known periphery and most things are within your reach. Now once you decide to change your habitat, you will have to first make sure about the nitty-gritty of that place. Again your purpose of relocation should be fulfilled.

As for the two of you, it is going back to the lap of nature after a through and through urbane life for the last 30 years. For you the reason might be different but one thing is mandatory that you will have to consider these factors before you hunt for that ideal place you have dreamt of throughout your life.

Make the checklist first

You must be sure of what you want and what you are exactly looking for. Go for the haves in a crystal clear manner and you find that the have-nots are easily resolved. This actually makes it quite determinant about the selection of the location.

What you must find out are the pros and cons of that area. Maybe it is very peaceful and will provide you with a tranquil solitary. But at the same time it is so far from the main city that you can neither access immediate medical facilities nor bank accounts and many other such important things. So should you go for this? If yes then what are the alternatives you have thought of to access these facilities?

Match the differences

Now whenever you are out for a vacation tour in a far-off land, you just take it for granted that this is what you look out for when you retire. But keep in mind that retirement and leisure are not synonymous. Retirement is a stage of your life and vacation is a very, very small period that might come to you in the course of your retirement also.

So first distinguish these two aspects and decide upon the place you want to live in your post retirement days. You are already above sixty and you need more care and concern. If these aspects are not fulfilled even a heaven-like place may turn foul for you.

Social ties and accessibilities

However you may feel prior to retirement that you just want to enjoy the moments alone. But for many people this leads to depression and disease. You start feeling lonely and isolated after a few days of enjoying the isolation you so longed for. What you then look for are solidarity and fellow mates to keep yourself engaged. And once you have relocated in a distant place, you cant change it so easily again. You are helpless and left without any choice.

The Final Note

The area where you want to relocate to  be it North or South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, or Arizona – it must fulfill your interests and needs at the same time. Make sure it has plenty of activities to keep you active and keep your brain in top notch shape. Dont take a decision out of impulse and get entrapped in the pitfalls later. Instead give it a solid rethought, also consult with other family members, dont ignore your kids ideas and then go for it.

This special report will highlight some of the best places to spend the rest of your days in happiness.

“…A large majority of Americans expect to enjoy a comfortable retirement, but many have not taken the actions needed to turn their aspirations into reality and face the prospect of having to work far longer than they expect…

…the survey, released on 4/4/06, showed many Americans’ retirement expectations are like a piece of Swiss cheese-full of holes. For example, many have accumulated only modest retirement savings, underestimate the share of their pre-retirement income they are likely to need in retirement, and have made no estimate of how much they will need to live comfortably once they retire…”

Don’t let a lack of funds keep you from retiring.

How can this Special Retirement Report help you?

Without a huge nest egg to retire with, you’ll need to look for other options. You’ll have to look for places that are more affordable and have a similar standard of living.

That is what this Special Report is about:

“The Best Places to Retire Around the World”

Get details on 30 40 (NEW: 10 new places to retire in Asia JUST ADDED) of the best and cheapest places to retire. With that many choices there’s bound to be something for you.

The reports for each bargain retirement location includes important factors to weigh when selecting where to retire such as:

The cost of living

Climate

Medical care

Local attractions

Available housing and costs

Recreation

Services just for seniors

Education resources

Transportation

…and much more

Each location has been thoroughly researched to help in your search for the best place to retire.

Enjoy some of the best retirement bargains available right now

Get this Special Retirement Report today and enjoy spending your retirement comfortably.

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What is so special about this book is that the ideas in the book will help you anywhere. It is about spotting opportunities in new lands. There are several case studies in this book of retirees who have started a second life and successful businesses overseas by providing much needed services to their new communities. It will show you how you can do the same.

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TAMPA BAY, FLORIDA
Florida has many fine places to spend a restful retirement.

But if you don’t define retirement as golf, white belts and canasta, then Tampa Bay is the place to go to kick-start a second (or third) act.

Says Katee Tully, a recent transplant to the area: “This is a rich, fertile place for people who are reinventing themselves.”

A former associate dean of continuing education at the City University of New York, she’s now on the board of The Studio@620, a community performing-arts center.

Deb Talbot, 56, a former Chase executive in New York, is now well connected in Tampa Bay.

Says Talbot: “I wasn’t ready for typical volunteer efforts.

She quickly arranged to consult for the Tampa Museum of Art, and she works with the Academy for Senior Professionals at Eckerd College, which connects retired professionals with art, literacy and charity groups.

Tampa and Clearwater are surrounded by water and subdivisions.

St. Petersburg has perhaps the best mix of good living, arts, culture and entrepreneurship.

In the early 20th century, city planners preserved the waterfront for public space and marinas.

The dockside vibe still permeates the St. Pete peninsula.

About a decade ago, the low-rise city started an extreme makeover in housing, arts, entrepreneurship and recreation.

Now ten exhibition spots, including the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts and the Salvador Dali Museum, share the city with a dozen performance venues.

Condo developers, recognizing the St. Pete appeal to retirees and young professionals, are building homes at a furious pace.

A one-bedroom condo downtown can run as low as $150,000 in an older building.

A two-bedroom unit in new construction can go for $500,000 or more.

The city of Tampa is a different case.

Downtown is noted for its high-rise office buildings, but it also boasts the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, a stylish and massive amalgam of five theaters and 20 studios.

Condos have begun springing up on the outskirts of downtown, and planners see thousands of units and riverfront development reshaping the city.

“We’ll have that urban vibe in five to ten years,” says Christine Burdick, president of the Tampa Downtown Partnership.

If you prefer a house, the early-20th-century homes in chic Hyde Park, south of Tampa, go for about $600,000 for 2,200 square feet.

For the same money, you can buy a recently built, 3,500-square-foot house in the sprawling ‘burbs north, east and west of the city.

The Tampa Bay area seems ready to handle the health-care needs of the coming influx of baby-boomers.

The number of health-care workers per capita is well above the national average, and Tampa’s cutting-edge treatment centers include the top-tier H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute.

Ybor (say “ee-bore”) City began as a cigar-rolling center in the 19th century and is now a collection of great restaurants, clubs and shops.

It’s within a few minutes of downtown Tampa.

The Arts Center in St. Petersburg features engaging works by living artists.

Alfred Baker, a retired U.S. Army colonel, moved to Harrisburg from Berlin, Germany, because his wife didn’t want to give up the four-season climate.

The fact that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania doesn’t tax retirement income didn’t hurt, either.

Low housing prices more than offset the relatively high property taxes.

Baker’s home on five wooded acres in Susquehanna Township, a northern suburb where the median home price is less than $112,000, is only minutes from the golf course, theaters, restaurants and medical care.

Each day an eclectic mix of cigar aficionados gather in the shop to fire up a favorite smoke and burn through the subject du jour.

The region’s strong economy has helped foster a thriving cultural scene that includes the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts — home to the city’s symphony orchestra, led by Tony Award-winner Stuart Malina — and the National Civil War Museum.

More reasons to retire to Mexico – they’re building homes just like here in AmericaRetiring in Mexico: No Longer Just a Dream

by Phoebe Chongchua
“Sounds so simple I just got to go,” James Taylor sings about Mexico. That’s exactly what the developers of a new American-developed, full-ownership, beachfront, active adult community in Mexico are hoping seniors will do.

“We chose Mexico for a couple of reasons. One, we know that it’s a major second-home destination for people in the 50-plus demographic anyway and what isn’t [developed] down there is the active-adult community. That’s just a very rare breed down there,” says Lee Ratta, Senior Vice President Organizational Advancement, Front Porch.

So Front Porch Development Company set out to create something very unique in Mexico.

“We actually had someone approach us from Mexico,” says Ratta. She says that Grupo Krone, a very-well-known major company in Mexico, is partnering with Front Porch to create Luma.

When completed Luma will offer more than 400 residences located on Mexico’s Pacific Coast in Nuevo Vallarta which is just 15 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta Airport and 30 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta.

“There’s a strong sense of wellbeing that is attached to Luma; a strong sense that you can come here and sort of explore new adventures, says Ratta.

Retire in Florida – Top 4 Florida Retirement Options
Floridians have been discovering new options for a comfortable retirement — right in their home state.

Gainesville, Tallahassee and even Miami offer all the essentials of retirement living.

With affordable housing (the median house price is $130,800) and some of the best healthcare in Florida (five stellar university hospitals), Gainesville also offers plenty of intellectual stimulation from the University of Florida and warm, freshwater springs where you can swim, fish and canoe.

The median age here is only 29, but more seniors are scoping it out, thanks in part to Oak Hammock, a life-care community affiliated with UF.

Oak Hammock’s 390 residents pay between $115,000 for a studio to nearly $500,000 for a 2,350-square-foot club home, as well as a monthly fee of $1,100 to $4,300 to cover meals, maintenance and future healthcare costs.

Residents don’t own their homes (and don’t pay property taxes or bills for electricity or cable).

What they’re paying for is any future assisted living they may incur as they age.

In addition to independent homes, the community has assisted-living apartments with attendants, housing where skilled nursing is available for a few days to several months, and a ”memory unit” for residents with Alzheimer’s and similar conditions.

At the 3-year-old community, UF students work in occupational and physical therapy in the rehab center, serve as personal trainers in the fitness center and work as interns in nursing and veterinary medicine.

Students from the university’s music and fine arts department perform regularly, and professors hold classes and lectures on art, law, healthcare and history at Oak Hammock’s Institute for Learning in Retirement.

Keep an eye out for more university-linked retirement communities: The Praxeis Group, the development company that manages Oak Hammock, is planning similar communities in Tallahassee affiliated with Florida State University and in Orlando connected to the University of Central Florida.

The state capital has a revitalized downtown and two major universities.

A three-bedroom, two-bath house will run about $300,000, but seniors here receive an additional $25,000 homestead exemption on top of the statewide $25,000 exemption.

Intellectually, people here are the highest-educated in Florida, with 49.9 percent of the population with either a bachelor’s, master’s, professional or doctorate degree.

(Florida’s average is 22.4 percent, and the national average is 24.4 percent.)

Its image of strip malls and Waffle Houses is quickly fading.

With its proximity to the state Legislature, Tallahassee offers opportunities for consulting and lobbying businesses.

It has its own regional airport and is home to Florida State University, Florida A&M University and Tallahassee Community College.

Listed as one of ”tomorrow’s retirement hot spots” by Consumer Reports Money Advisor, Tallahassee has a senior population that accounts for only 8.3 percent of all residents.

But the number is expected to climb to 16.3 percent by 2030 as more retirees move to the low-priced and low-taxed city.

More and more boomer retirees are shirking suburbia and returning to major urban areas as they seek out more cultural and entertainment opportunities.

They even have a name: ruppies (retired urban people).

Miami is welcoming them with a huge condo market, the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts, a farmers’ market at Bayfront Park, art galleries in Wynwood, a thriving restaurant scene and trendy shopping in the Design District.

Add an international airport, several major universities and the Metromover and Metrorail for getting around, and Miami starts to sound downright desirable.

Miami is listed at one of the country’s 20 best retirement downtowns in the 2006 book Retire Downtown: The Lifestyle Destination for Active Retirees and Empty Nesters, by Kyle Ezell (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $18.95).

The book sings the praises of the Brickell area and neighborhoods west of Bicentennial Park, calling Miami the ”New Hollywood” for the attraction it holds for many of today’s celebrities.

Miami is one of the least-affordable places to live, with 69 percent of its residents spending at least 30 percent of their household incomes on homeownership.

With downtown condo prices in the millions, it only holds appeal for those who can afford it.

The small, civilized town on Florida’s Gulf Coast has 35 miles of beaches, good boating in the Gulf and Sarasota Bay, fine dining (not an early-bird special in sight) and amazing cultural opportunities.

The city has its own opera, a symphony, a film society, a theater scene, lots of art galleries and the Ringling Museum of Art, with paintings by Rubens.

The median house price is $176,100 — and you may find a mid-century gem in the housing market.

The city, which cultivated its own group of mid-century modern architects, is home to the Sarasota School of Architecture.

Spain has some of the best retirement areas. It is becoming increasingly popular as more and more people discover what it has to offer, namely first-world European luxuries and charms with the sun and sand of Spain’s famous beaches.

France is also home to some of the top retirement areas. It offers a great quality of life along with all the modern day comforts you enjoy at home.

Mitchell County, Iowa – one of the best places to live in the US.
Based on several factors including air quality, income, education, pollution rates, water quality and crime stats, Mitchell County has been ranked in the top 15 best places to live in the Midwest by “The Progressive Farmer,” magazine.

The new study is published in a recent edition of the national publication and can also be found online.
Each year “The Progressive Farmer” and “OnBoard LLC,” a real estate research firm team up to conduct the survey.
First they crunch numbers and then hit the road for a first-hand look.
The researchers begin by putting together a preliminary list of rural counties that meet certain criteria.
The staff looks at household income, household spending, home and land prices, crime rates, air quality, education, access to health care – all the things that can indicate a snapshot of places the magazines rural readers would want to call home.
Then for several months out of the year, the magazine’s team of editors travels to the top counties, taking pictures, interviewing residents and getting the lay of the land.
Crime rates and pollution rates are determined by using a national average of 100.
Mitchell County’s personal crime rate, for example is 10, which means residents are only one-tenth as likely to experience a crime as someone living in the average Midwest county.
Other categories include health care providers per person within the county and leisure activities.
Other categories include health care providers per person within the county and leisure activities.
“Mitchell County has lots to be proud of,” said County Supervisor Chair Stan Walk, who saw the ranking early last week in the Des Moines Register.
“It says a lot for all aspects of the county- it says we have had good leadership in our schools, city government and county government.
It says Mitchell County is on the right path for providing vital services and strengthening our economic development base.
“Baby boomers wanting to retire and younger families looking for a clean environment, healthy lifestyles, low cost of living, quality schools, low crime area and friendly communities should consider moving here.”
“It has been a fun couple weeks as our growth and quality of life here in Mitchell County has been recognized on a regional and multi-state level, said Brenda Dryer, Executive Director of Mitchell County Economic Development.
“We are truly blessed with the quality of life, wonderful schools, and great business and industry that we have in Mitchell County.

My hope is that we all work together to continue to build on our successes moving forward.”

Those who would like to see the top 60 counties and judge for
themselves, the statistics can be found online at “pfbestplaces.com.”

Story created Feb 13, 2007 – 13:49:09 CST. Based on several factors including air quality, income, education, pollution rates, water quality and crime stats, Mitchell County has been ranked in the top 15 best places to live in the Midwest by “The Progressive Farmer,” magazine.

Winston-Salem ranked second-best home for retirees
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A study by a retirement analyst says Winston-Salem is the nation’s second-best community for retirees.
The study by analyst Warren Bland says a significantly better cost-of-living and housing value than the national average puts Winston-Salem high on the list.
Hot Springs, Arkansas, heads the list of the top-10 value communities.
Officials in Winston-Salem acknowledge that the ranking may not send the most appealing message to the younger people.
Gayle Anderson, president of the Greater Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce, says the same amenities that make the city attractive to active retirees are just as desired by young professionals.
Bland is the author of Retire in Style: 60 Outstanding Places Across the U.S.-A and Canada, which was originally published in 2001 and revised in 2005. The 2005 edition listed six North Carolina communities — Asheville, Brevard, Chapel Hill, Hendersonville, Pinehurst and Southern Pines.

A study by a retirement analyst says Winston-Salem is the nation’s second-best community for retirees. The study by analyst Warren Bland says a significantly better cost-of-living and housing value than the national average puts Winston-Salem high on the list.

Northern Arizona
Northern Arizona From the desert of Sedona to the pine forests of Flagstaff, the varied climate and topography of Northern Arizona has been stealing 50-somethings from traditional Arizona retirement spots Scottsdale and Mesa for some time.
But golfers started paying even more attention to Prescott, Sedona, and Flagstaff in recent years as 108 new holes have been built since the start of 2000.
The four newest additions to the region worth noting are Seven Canyons in Sedona, Pine Canyon Club and Flagstaff Ranch in Flagstaff, and Talking Rock Ranch in Prescott.
All four are private real-estate developments with homes starting in the $500,000 range.
Seven Canyons, a Tom Weiskopf design, is the most striking with a 6,746-yard routing through the red rocks that make the area famous.
Weiskopf, who is not someone to gush over anything, said the property “took my breath away” when he first saw it.
His previous work in Arizona includes Forest Highlands in Flagstaff, whose Canyon course is ranked No. 1 in the state by Golf Digest, and TPC of Scottsdale (home of the PGA Tour’s FBR Open).
While private clubs are sprouting rapidly, the area also has a lot of public courses, including two in the tourist town of Sedona–Sedona Golf Resort (4 1/2 stars in Golf Digest’s Best Places to Play) and Oakcreek Country Club (4 stars).
While Sedona offers incredible views of red rock buttes, as well as a bohemian artist community, Flagstaff is more of a pioneer town, with bearskin rugs covering the floors of log-cabin homes.
It snows in Flagstaff in the winter, but all it takes is an hour drive south down Interstate 17 to get back into warm, golfable weather.